Theme

The Arts

Featured Items

Detail of an embroidered cloth book binding shows letters "JHS" in gold and green beads.

[Abecedario]

1813
Detail of a printed book shows a colored illustrated dragons on a circular diagram with text in Latin.

Astronomicum cæsareum

Peter Apian
1540
Detail of a hand colored lithograph shows enslaved Black people planting sugar cane in an open field.

[Post-emancipation Life]

Ladies' Society for Promoting the Early Education of Negro Children
1833-1837
Printed title page includes decorative border and text in English reading "The Whole Book of Psalmes Faithfully translated into English metre." Left side of the page shows manuscript notations.

The whole booke of Psalmes faithfully translated into English metre

1640
Detail of an engraved, hand colored full-page illustration shows a yam.

A collection of exotics, from the Island of Antigua

Lydia Byam
1797
Detail of a blockbook shows woodcut illustration of biblical scene in the garden of eden. A woman holds an apple and is talking to a large snake. Text in Latin also visible.

Biblia pauperum

1460-1470
Detail of a colored manuscript map shows the Black Sea with labels. Decorative border includes red, blue, and green ink and gilded details.

Battista Agnese atlas

Battista Agnese
1543-1545
Detail of a printed book shows a decorated title page depicting an illustration of Sor Juana, angels, indigenous people, and text in Spanish and Latin.

Fama, y obras posthumas del Fenix de Mexico

Juana Inés de la Cruz
1700

See Also

Black History

Massachuset